


Neptune

by youbuggme



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, F/M, Gen, Jedi, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, X-Wing(s), sassy droid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:04:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9215948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youbuggme/pseuds/youbuggme
Summary: Theon had joined the Rebels/Light/Resistance whatever they were called these days because he wanted to fly, not because he cared about what they were supposedly fighting for. Sure, the Resistance also put a healthy amount of space between him and the remaining members of the Greyjoy party, but that didn’t matter nearly as much as being able to fly.When X-wing pilot Theon meets force-sensitive Jedi Robb.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song Neptune by Sleeping At Last. Basically, the entire Space I & II albums were the background of me writing this fic. 
> 
> Updates will be sporadic and tentative- but I've been wanted to begin posting this for months and after watching Rogue One and a few people on Tumblr egging me on, I decided to just do it . 
> 
> Will be multi-chapter, mostly all from Theon's POV. :) Enjoy!

Wiping the grease and sweat from his forehead, Theon narrowed his eyes at the mess of the upper left engine before him. Not only had he been barred from the last fly out (for completely juvenile reasons that he was not going to get into again) but General Tarth forced him to let a newbie use _his_ vessel because that same newbie had crash-landed his a week earlier and ripped the hull into shreds which Waters was _still_ in the process of fixing up. Then that fucker got hit using _Theon’s_ X-wing and now Theon was left with the fall out of a half-functioning engine. Thank gods there were three other fully operational ones or else it might not have ever come back to him. He was already working with an outdated starfighter model, one that made getting parts for increasingly difficult; he didn’t need for it to become totally impossible to use it.

Nothing like the Dark Side- _whatever they were calling themselves these days_ -fucking with his T-65B X-wing starfighter to put a damper on Theon’s already shitty mood. He had been hoping to put in some decent fly-time now that his suspension was being lifted, but apparently his good-for-nothing assigned droid had other plans than tending to his damaged aircraft.

“R3!” Theon pulled his head away from the mechanics and scanned the air hanger for his droid, a green and white R-series scavenged from the old days of the Empire ( _now we are calling it the Crown because that’s a big fucking difference_ ). BB-models were the droids of choice for pilots anymore but Theon didn’t care what series he had been assigned, as long as it met the specification for flying which his barely did.

(There was also the little fact that since his X-wing was from the old Empire days, BB-models didn’t fit well in the droid seats and he had to use an older droid, but his point still stood on not caring.)

There had been an actual debate on the council to even let him fly and get an assignment because the Greyjoys backed the Empire all those years ago and helped scorch rebel camps. Even now his remaining relatives caused mayhem across the galaxy as raiders and pirates. General Tarth was the only one to stand behind him and they reluctantly gave him a half-functioning X-wing with three of the four engines down and a half destroyed hull…which was working _perfectly_ now because of him. They had also given him a piss-poor outdated droid (he couldn’t even swing a refurbished model that would fit). Not that Theon was one for complaining much. Droids had a single purpose, the make and model matter little to him. As long as they didn’t screw up his precious X-wing, all was good.

Theon watched wearily as his assigned droid rolled excruciatingly slow toward Theon. It stopped about five feet away before giving Theon a low, indignant beep and then backed up another five feet and then whistled tauntingly at him.

Theon had no problems with the R-series droids, even if some of his fellow pilots considered them obsolete. Theon, however, did have an issue with R3-S9. The bond between pilot and droid was a connection that was intimate, valuable, and special. Tales and stories were sung about pilot-droid work relations. There was almost nothing else like it to compare it to. Unfortunately, Theon and R3 never had that or anything close. Far from it. If anything, Theon and R3-S9 were more adversaries than partners.

Theon didn’t know what he did to piss off the droid, but R3-S9 wanted absolutely nothing to do with Theon. It always amazed Theon to see how annoyed, lazy, and begrudging his droid was to lend a hand when it was the only job the droid had to do. The damn thing was built to _help_ Theon, but something must have gone awry during the programming. Theon was an ass, he knew that, but he wasn’t _that_ much of an asshole to deserve that treatment.

“Get up here,” Theon snapped at the evergreen droid who was wheeling back and forth at a now ten-foot distance. “I think there is a leak. I want to get this fixed up so I can take her out today and once I’m gone you can go fucking around doing whatever it is you do.” _Technically_ droids were supposed to go on fly-outs, but R3 and Theon had the silent agreement to forgo that rule unless it was mission based. The less time they spent together, the more cohesive the relationship was. None of the other pilots seemed to mind. If Theon went crashing down, none of them would blink an eye. They probably had more use for the droid without Theon there.

Theon glanced back to the engine and continued to tinker with it, expecting the droid to join him. After a few minutes, Theon sighed and turned to see his droid still sitting there, ten feet away from the X-wing. It was waiting.

They stared each other down, each willing the other silently to submit to their will. Growling, Theon tore his gaze away, folding, and went back to the damaged engine. “ _Please_.”

Giving a high pitched squeal, the droid rolled forward and lifted itself into the droid pit of the X-wing. The droid socket was located right next to the four engines and R3 had complete access to the entire unit. Why his droid didn’t take it upon itself to fix the engine earlier? Well, Theon actually assumed the droid wanted him to suffer, so that was probably the reason. R3 could be an even greater asshole than Theon.

“How long do you think it’s going to take to get her flying again?” Theon watched as R3-S9 fiddled with the inner parts of the engine, half of it being concealed by other parts and wires. This is the only reason he put up with the droid, in all honestly. R3 could reach and maintain the parts of the X-wing that were inaccessible to Theon unless he wanted to spend the whole day taking apart his X-wing to get to them…or let his hanger’s engineer touch her and as much as Theon liked Gendry, _no one_ touched his X-wing unless strictly necessary.

R3 sounded off a few low beeps. According to the droid, he’d be good to go by high noon. Perfect.

“Greyjoy!”

Theon cursed lowly, to which his droid beeped mockingly. Turning around, Theon could see one of the communication navigators approaching him. It flattered Theon to see the navigator looked just as unwilling to approach Theon as Theon felt about him speaking.

“What?” Theon slumped into a sitting position, his legs dangling off the X-wing. Behind him, he could hear R3 drilling in the engine. He hoped the droid knew better than to sabotage his engine. It wouldn’t be the first time R3 fucked with the X-wing as some form of payback on Theon. Usually, they were innocent little pranks…but Theon didn’t like anything being done to his X-wing without his consent.

( _Yes, Theon was still fucking sour about the translation modules being swapped, R3._ )

“General Tarth is looking for you,” the navigator replied, his tone implying he didn’t understand why the General wanted Theon of all people. “Now.”

Theon had half the mind to tell the navigator to fuck off. Theon had joined the Rebels/Light/Resistance _whatever_ they were called these days because he wanted to fly, not because he cared about what they were supposedly fighting for. Sure, the Resistance also put a healthy amount of space between him and the remaining members of the Greyjoy party, but that didn’t matter nearly as much as being able to fly. Theon was absolutely positive that if the Empire/Dark/Crown had asked him first, he’d be flying some sick TIE-fighter crafts instead.

Hell, the urge to get behind one of those babies was all the tempting. He had seen them move enough to know that their turns put his X-wing to shame, but what the X-wing lacked in sharp and smooth turns it made up for in speed and power and that was something Theon wasn’t willing to trade.

Remembering the navigator, Theon turned to his droid. “Have this fixed by the time I get back.” It was an order but Theon knew from experience that R3 was pretty loose with instructions. Theon hoped it wouldn’t be one of those times. He really wanted to take her out today. It had been two weeks since he had been out flying and he was finding himself going stir crazy from being land-bound for so long. Being stationary never boded well with him.

Jumping from the X-wing, Theon passed by the navigator wordlessly and headed toward the upper decks. General Tarth was bound to be in one of the control rooms. That’s the only place she ever was. She was almost as work-obsessed as Theon was flying obsessed.

It took him fifteen minutes to find the General in Central Navigation. Theon, while he may not be Force-sensitive, could instantly sense a shift in the air as he walked in.

Usually, Central Navigation was buzzing with activity but today it was deathly still and near deafeningly silent. Theon also noticed all the usual suspects of the navigation room were gone. (Margaery practically lived at her communications desk and Renly was never too far away from the galaxy charts, usually pushing Brienne aside). The room was practically empty save for General Tarth and a small group of people that Theon didn’t recognize. They weren’t even dressed in uniforms: furs and leather cladding their bodies instead of the polymer jumpsuits that were station issued. It was an unusual sight, to say the least.

It was a group of seven. There was a woman with red hair talking in a low voice with  General Tarth, her eyes as blue as the oceans that Theon liked to skim in his X-wing on Issor. Directly at her flanks were two boys, both older than the rest of the lot. One was a spitting image of the woman who was probably his mother. The other was like his darker shadow, dressed in black and with a dark emotionless expression. A few feet away were the other four, two girls and two boys. The eldest girl, probably five or six years younger than Theon, looked exactly like the woman Theon was now _positive_ the mother of this group. The other girl resembled the shadowed boy much more, with steel gray eyes that could cut. The other two boys were incredibly young, one not looking more than twelve and the other just barely fourteen.

“Greyjoy, thank you for coming,” General Tarth turned her attention on him immediately and his eyes drifted from the family to her. He crossed his arms over his chest and silently urged her to continue as to why he had been called there. "I wanted to formally lift your no-flight ban," General Tarth explained. Theon didn't say anything and continued to watch her skeptically. There was more coming, he knew it. He had been banned from flights enough times to know when it was lifted they didn't get formal notices. It just ended and he was in the sky again. There was no time for such formalities when war was impending. "While you are here, though-" _ah, there is it_ "-can you take these six to the medical bay?" It was posed as a question but Theon knew it was an order. "Have Samwell run full diagnostics and checkups. Make sure they are up to date on all medical records and have him supplement if they aren't." Theon waited for more and Brienne sighed. "Then you are free for flight but keep it low today." He knew that last bit was supposed to be some form of reward for him running errands but at the moment Theon didn't care. He was going to be back in the sky where he belonged…just as soon as he finished Brienne’s errands.

Silently, Theon led the way out of Central Navigation, not bothering to check if the six he was supposed to lead were following him. The medical bay was a nearly twenty-minute walk and he was silently hoping he could go through the whole thing without speaking. Unfortunately, the minute the door closed, one of the younger children, a boy who Theon now saw had to be carried because of his nonfunctioning legs, looked up at Theon eagerly.

"Are you a pilot?" The boy's eyes were big and brimming with excitement. Theon was suddenly hit to a time when he was younger and had seen Rodrik and Maron building pods in the shed, having the same big eyed excitement. That’s when he fell into an obsession with flight. Of course, Rodrik and Maron then tried to beat that awe out of him.

"Yeah," he shrugged.

"What model do you fly?" the kid instantly asked, his hands clenching and unclenching the shoulders of the older boy carrying him.

Theon raised an eyebrow. "Standard T-65B."

"Oh fly old school? _Cool_ ," the kid sighed breathlessly. "Co-droid?"

_Unfortunately_. "Yeah." _Not many single non-droid vessels out there to begin with, especially as old as his._

"Do you-" the kid began to fire off another question but was silenced by his presumably older brother who had been silently carrying up until this point.

"Bran, another time," he whispered lowly.

"But Robb-"

"It's fine," Theon muttered.

Normally he wasn't really into discussing much of anything with anyone but this was about flying and this kid was actually interested. It was hard to find one of those anymore. Everyone was interested in becoming Jedi (and then we're faced with the harsh music of a lacking force-sensitivity) or espionage (which resulted in less spying and more upper management and seas of paperwork).

"What kind of droid you got?" the younger of the two girls asked. Her arms had been firmly crossed over her chest this entire time. A scowl was planted on her face.

"An R-series," Theon grumbled. He wondered if R3 was even done with the damaged engine yet or got distracting doing something completely different. “An R3 to be exact.”

"Why not a BB-model?" the girl sneered. "They are updated and have better navigation systems."

"The R-series works just fine for what I need."

"Must not be a good pilot," the girl muttered.

Theon had half the mind to fire back, but he wasn't about to lower himself in arguing with a seventeen-year-old girl.

"Arya," the sullen boy planted his hand firmly on her shoulder. "Quiet."

"Whatever," the girl, Arya muttered, but conceded to the demand and fell silent.

Thankfully the rest of the walk was done in complete silence. The kid, Bran, took great interest in the air hanger as they passed it while the older girl with red hair oohed and awed at all the right moments. The youngest of them all was nearly sleepwalking, holding onto his older siblings’ hands to make sure he kept up. Theon wondered how long and far the group had traveled. The bags under their eyes and the way they were dressed suggested a long way.

They reached the medical bay quickly and Theon was about to be relieved of his duties. Samwell Tarly was already there and Theon quickly relayed the details from the General. He was nearly done with the instructions when something crashed into the back of his legs, causing them to buckle and he nearly fell over. Turning around Theon saw R3 whistling at him excitedly. If droids could laugh, R3 would be.

" _That’s_ your droid?" Arya giggled at R3. It wasn’t the most well-maintained of droids, dents and scratched all over R3’s chipping evergreen surface. Theon would have cleaned the gunk and dirt coating the droid, but R3 threatened to zap Theon will low grade shocks whenever Theon touched him.

The droid beeped lowly at her, translating into some sort of a curse, before swiveling to look up at Theon.

"Did you fix it?" Theon sighed. That better be the only reason the droid was bothering him right now.

The droid gave an affirmative screech and Theon sighed with relief. "Good, I'm taking her out. Keep out of everyone's way and you can do whatever the hell you want."

With that, Theon was out of the medical bay, not waiting to see if or where his droid went. He didn't care. He was finally going to be back in the sky and that's all that mattered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Unfortunately, that damn droid was nowhere to be found. Theon searched the air hanger- all eight to be exact -he searched his bunk but he knew the chances of the droid being there was slim. He checked navigation, the rec rooms and even the med bay in case his droid decided to never leave after Theon left yesterday. All resulted fruitlessly save for the information he got from Tarly._
> 
> _"R3 seemed to take a liking to the new guys, the refugee family you brought in yesterday."_

There was a problem with the engine again.

Yesterday's free flight had gone smooth enough but there were a hitch and a click in the third engine that Theon wasn’t too thrilled with. He had spent a better part of the night trying to fix it but it was becoming more and more apparent that he was going to need R3 again or else he'd have to let Water's touch her and he didn't like anyone touching his X-wing. That's how it got screwed up in the first place.

Unfortunately, that damn droid was nowhere to be found. Theon searched the air hanger- all eight to be exact -he searched his bunk but he knew the chances of the droid being there was slim. He checked navigation, the rec rooms and even the med bay in case his droid decided to never leave after Theon left yesterday. All resulted fruitlessly save for the information he got from Tarly.

"R3 seemed to take a liking to the new guys, the refugee family you brought in yesterday."

"Is R3 with them?" Theon hissed. He didn't care that his droid preferred other company (Theon often did as well) as long as the droid did its damn job like it was programmed to do.

"It left with them," Samwell offered sheepishly and Theon took that as R3 still being with the refugee family or at the very least the refugee family would know where the droid had gone off to.

"Know where they might be, doc?" Theon pushed off the exam table he was leaning against. There were ten refugee areas on base and Theon was _not_ going to search every single one of them for the damn droid. He didn’t have the time or patience for that.

"’Should be on the upper decks. General Tarth placed them in housing there."

Theon blinked. Why would General Tarth place them on the upper decks? That wasn't the refugee camps; that was the old Jedi camps and training facilities.

"Thanks," he muttered and quickly retreated out of the medical bay.

When he finally got to the upper deck, Theon searched for signs of life. Any signs of that family were more than welcomed. The upper decks were nearly abandoned so it shouldn’t be too hard to find them.

The upper deck was the emptiest part of the whole base. They used to serve as the housing for the Jedi, equipped with training facilities and other accommodations specific to those who were force-sensitive. Not many Jedi were around anymore and the ones still around were few and far between. Most of them were older and since celibacy was the Jedi way there weren’t a whole lot of young ones running around (Don’t even get Theon started into how fucked up the Jedi Code was, and this was coming from someone who didn’t even really care). Not many Jedi came from non-force sensitive folks. Their numbers were dwindling. It was a hard fact not many people were ready to face or find a solution to. Also, no one seemed to think that letting them reproduce was a viable option. It was a classic Morals vs. Needs scenario. Theon didn’t get it; then again he didn’t care to think about it. Jedi weren’t going to make or break his chances for flying so his concern for them was limited. Theon would be in the skies whether Jedi were around or not, and if he were being honest, war provided many opportunities for Theon to fly, much more than a domestic life would.

Theon scanned the upper deck and walked down the far too long hallway. He spotted the older of the two girls from yesterday and approached quickly. She was looking at an old galaxy map, her eyes dancing from system to system.

He coughed to gain her attention and immediately she smiled knowingly at him. "Looking for your droid?" He nodded his head silently and she giggled slightly. "I think it took a liking to Robb." She gestured down the hall to the door marked 21.

"Thanks," he muttered as he stalked toward the room. If and when he got his hands on that droid, he was going to reprogram the damn thing himself so it would do its fucking job and, who knows, maybe actually help him. If he could rewire his old X-wing from scratch, he could do the same to a measly droid.

The door to room 21 was cracked but common courtesy told him to knock. With a small, "come in" Theon pushed it open.

Before him was a simplistic single occupancy bunk. It was actually very similar to his own bunk in the pilot deck near air hanger six. The guy from yesterday named Robb was sitting crossed leg on the bed with R3 before him. R3's top cap had been removed and Robb's hands were moving around inside. He looked up and upon seeing Theon ripped his hands away from the droid as if he had been burned. A dusting of pink rose over his nose and cheeks.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed nervously, flipping the cap back on R3 in a quick motion. "He followed me here and, well, according to the book," he gestured to the open book in his lap, "there was something in there and I was just cleaning it out. Looked like a clump of lint or something. I'm sorry I guess-"

"It's fine," Theon cut off the babble. Theon didn't care. Maintenance of the droid was usually up to the assigned partner but R3 never let Theon touch him unless strictly necessary so Theon never bothered to force the issue. All the droids went through quarterly checks so he assumed if it wasn't drastically hindering the droid’s performance it could wait till then. "I just need it back."

The droid beeped and rolled further into the room and away from Theon.

"Okay," Robb nodded his head.

Theon waited for the droid but froze as the book from Robb's lap raised on its own accord and found its way back onto the bookshelf. It slipped easily back into the gap on the shelf, pushing past the two books that sandwiched it.

"Oh," _Well, that made sense as to why the family had been placed on the upper deck for the Jedi._ Theon swallowed hard. Honestly, he'd never spoken to a Jedi, and the ones he had seen in passing were usually so _old_. Never this young. Never this, well, Theon wasn't sure the word he was trying to think of to describe the guy before him, the furs he wore yesterday had been discarded and now he only sat in tight leather. Attractive was a word that ebbed on the edge of his thoughts but he _pushed_ that one away quickly. If Jedi could read minds like the other pilots claimed then it would not be a great idea to have any of those open thoughts fluttering around.

Robb dropped his hand, embarrassment flooding to his cheeks. "I thought you knew."

Theon scratched the back of his head. "It's none of my business. R3," Theon turned his attention back to the droid, squaring his shoulders; "the engine is clicking. Let's go."

The atmosphere in the room was deafening and suffocating. Unfortunately, like everything R3 did, it only made things worse by rolling to the young Jedi instead of its assigned pilot. Robb licked his lips, clearing unsure how to proceed.

"Go," Robb waved the droid on gently. Theon knew he should have felt embarrassed that the droid didn't listen to him, but he was much more concerned with the fact that the apparent refugee party they were housing had at least one force-sensitive being, if not more. In all likelihood, all six kids were and maybe the mother too. _What was Brienne thinking? There was more going on, clearly._

Reluctantly, R3 rolled painstakingly slow past Theon and out the opened door. Theon nodded a silent thanks to the redhead and ducked out of the room. He didn't have time to think about what the fuck was going on with this clearly force-sensitive family. Theon was better off with being concerned about himself and his precious X-wing.

* * *

A week went by before Theon encountered the Jedi refugee family again. Up until then, Theon continued to separate his time between his bunk, the air hanger, and the skies. It didn't stop him from noticing the ever increasing lacking presence of his already spacey droid. It didn't take a genius to know where the droid had scurried off to. Frankly, Theon was fine with the missing droid. It kept R3-S9 out of his way and allowed him to work in peace. It was just when Theon actually needed the droid that it became a pain in the ass.

Thankfully, there seemed to be no more problems with the X-wing and the third engine was purring smoothly. But, it was the fifteenth and the fifteenth was Theon’s scheduled maintenance day. Usually, it went off without a hitch. Theon made sure to keep his X-wing in top-notch conditions. The only thing was that R3 had to be present to get a passing grade from Waters.

Theon didn’t even bother searching extensively for the droid. He went straight to the upper deck and hoped that the Jedi family and his droid were hanging around there. Otherwise, Theon would have to search the whole base and while he’d just _love_ to spend the day doing that, he needed that droid in the air hanger in an hour or else he would face the repercussions of another no-fly ban, _again._

And of course, as he arrived at the upper deck, he found the lights off and not a soul to be found. Of course, it had to be today that his droid and the eldest of that refugee family decided to fuck off somewhere. Because nothing could ever be easy for Theon. _Never_.

Panicking, Theon exited the upper deck and went straight to Central Navigation. If General Tarth was there, which she undoubtedly was, she would know where that family was and by extension, where his droid was. It was also a nice way to cover his ass if he ended up late to his maintenance check. Theon supposed those were the perks of being in with the General…but really, he knew it was because Brienne used Theon for more under the table matters.

When he reached Central Navigation, the time he had until his maintenance check had dwindled to forty-five minutes. It still wasn’t bad, but Theon didn’t like cutting things short, especially since he was fresh back to his usual fly schedule.

Thankfully, General Tarth was there and looking over the galaxy charts. Her eyes were on the Hoth system again, specifically, the planet that shared its name and Theon knew where this was leading and hoped to get out of Central Navigation before the topic came up and he was roped into another pointless mission.

“General,” Theon gathered Brienne’s attention. She turned around slightly, her body still facing the map but her eyes on his. Theon continued, “The family you had me bring to the medical bay last week, do you know where they are right now?”

General Tarth narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“My droid is with them and I have a maintenance scheduled in less than an hour.” Theon didn’t bother with a lie. He didn’t have time to play any games with Brienne and frankly, she was never up for games when she was obsessing about her missing partner. It was a wonder Brienne could organize an entire rebelling, deal with the politicians backing them, _both_ Baratheon brothers, threats to peace across the galaxy _and_ continue these obsessions. It was a wonder Brienne even got a full night’s sleep.

“I see,” General Tarth turned back to the map. “Try the cafeteria on Deck Nine.”

“Thanks,” Theon muttered as he quickly fled the navigation.

He was stopped just before he reached the door by Brienne as she spoke again. “I’m going to have you do a check-in at the Hoth station again tomorrow. Should only be a week-long excursion.”

Theon paused his hand on the door. While a check-in with the Hoth station sounded normal, Theon knew the underlying request, the reason Brienne couldn’t ask any other pilot besides Theon. “I’ve check fifteen times. At some point, it is a waste of resources to keep sending people back there to look for him.”

“You’ll check it for a sixteenth.” It was final. An order. “Understand?”

 “Yes, ma’am,” Theon grit his teeth.

“Now make sure you get passed by maintenance and I’ll have you out of here first thing tomorrow.”

Theon was out of navigation without another word. What had started out as a nice day was quickly souring. While he loved to fly, searching for Jaime Lannister was not exactly something Theon enjoyed doing. Especially since everyone knew that the asshole probably froze to death six months ago when he first disappeared.

* * *

“I have been searching for you _everywhere_ ,” Theon hissed as he crossed paths with his godforsaken droid. He had been struck by a sudden spark of luck and had run into his droid and Robb the Jedi refugee on his way to the Deck Nine cafeteria.

Robb looked guilty all at once. “Crap, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you needed him and-”

“I don’t have time for this,” Theon muttered, glaring at this droid. “R3 knows better. Did you forget it was the fifteenth or is your scheduled calendar programming all fucked up?”

Robb looked down at the droid in confusion as it beeped loudly and skirted to hide behind the young Jedi. Theon was going to lose it.

“R3, we need to go. We have ten minutes to get back to the air hanger.”

The droid didn’t budge. The Jedi-to-be look at Theon unsure before turning to the droid behind him. “Go on,” Robb urged. R3 whistled lowly in response. “We can meet up again later.” The droid still didn’t move but it did give a beep of defeat.

Theon couldn’t believe his droid was actually pulling sympathy out of this guy. “Look, _we_ don’t really have time for this, R3. Hell, he can come with. I’m not being barred again because of you.”

The droid still didn’t move but Robb seemed to understand the importance Theon was trying to impress onto the droid. “Lead the way,” Robb offered.

Hesitantly, Theon began to walk to the air hanger, Robb by his side. He turned to see the droid was following close behind Robb. Theon honestly wasn’t sure what was going on with the droid but as long as it was coming along, Theon wasn’t going to start complaining again. He’ll have plenty of time to talk sense into his droid the week they’d have to spend in each other’s company on their mission to Hoth. The only thing worse than being stuck with the droid was being isolated with the lab rats on Hoth.

“Maybe you should be nicer to him,” Robb muttered as they reached the air hanger.

Theon wanted to pretend he didn’t hear it but the way the guy was looking at him, Theon didn’t think he was going to drop it. “It’s really none of your business.” He wasn’t even going to touch on the issue that this guy assigned a gender to the droid.

Robb nodded his head. “Maybe, but that’s just my opinion.”

Theon rolled his eyes as he approached his baby. Thankfully, Waters wasn’t there yet so Theon had time to triple check that everything was in place. Theon watched as his droid decided to be useful and pulled itself into the craft with only a small bump to Theon’s knee when passing by. Theon climbed up the wings until he was by the droid pit. R3 joined him with a cooperative hum. _About damn time._

“Make sure all the fastenings are on. They should be but I don’t want Waters having any reason to keep us here,” Theon muttered to the droid. At least when they worked on the X-wing, they could get along, otherwise, Theon would have no problem with sending R3 for decommissioning.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Robb asked from the ground, looking up at Theon with curious eyes.

Theon looked over the side of the wing. “Know anything about old school T-65B X-wings?”

The Jedi blinked in surprise. “No,” Robb admitted dully.

“Then no,” Theon snapped back as he turned to the problem engine. He knew the other ones were fine. He just didn’t want that third engine to give him any more stress.

R3 shifted its gaze at Theon before lowly singing a strand of beeps for only Theon’s ears. Theon stared hard at the droid. “I don’t care if you two are friends, he can’t help so he ain’t touching her, got it?” _Be nicer my ass_ , Theon thought darkly. His droid sounded exactly like the guy below. Maybe Theon should stop their blooming friendship before R3 got any more clever ideas.

The droid spoke again and Theon raised an eyebrow. “How is it my problem if the guy is bored and lonely?”

The droid gave one single beep. Theon rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “No.”

Another beep. “I said, no.”

Two beeps this time. Theon flushed at this face. “Shut up, you don’t know shit.”

Beep, screech, beep. “Now that’s just crass.”

“Are you two okay up there?” a new voice called up. Theon looked down to see not only was Robb standing there but Gendry Waters had joined in, the damn clipboard in hand and utility belt hanging from his hips. He had a timid smile on his face, one that said Gendry was keeping today brief and quick. _Perfect._ Theon didn’t really have a problem with Gendry but today he was no in the mood.

Theon gave his droid a silencing glare before jumping down to the ground, dusting his hands on his thighs. “Let’s make this quick, Waters.”

“Why?” Gendry cocked his head to the side but was already examining the wheels. Gendry knew Theon’s temper with the droid and didn’t want to be around that for too long. No one did. “Got fly out plans today? I checked the roster earlier; I didn’t see the _Sea Bitch_ listed.” There was a faint smirk on his lips as he spoke the name. Really, Central Control got a kick out of it when they assigned the names.

Robb blinked. “ _That’s_ the name of your X-wing?”

Theon ignored Robb in favor of answering Gendry. “No, tomorrow.” Theon leaned against the lower wing.

Gendry looked up confused but curious. As head mechanic, he was usually up to date on all fly out plans. “Where to?”

“Hoth, again,” Theon sneered.

“Hoth?” Robb chimed in, eyes wide in interest.

Theon shrugged. From above, R3 chimed with an affirmative beep.

“Wow,” Robb marveled.

“Trust me,” Theon muttered as he watched Gendry begin to inspect the lower engines. “It ain’t all that great. Just a bunch of frozen water and rocks.”

“But that’s where the Battle of Hoth was,” Robb answered in awe. “I’ve read all there is about it and- it was supposed to be-”

Theon cut him off. “Key word: _was_.”

“So why are you going there?” Robb raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t there already a base there?”

“Oh, there is,” Gendry chimed in as he began to climb on top of the X-wing to get a look at the upper two engines. Theon watching the mechanic with a scrutinizing glare to make sure Waters didn’t do anything to his precious X-wing with his consent. “They mostly deal with research and information collection.”

“So, why?” Robb asked, his eyes directed to Theon. Theon was beginning to think R3 may have overstated their importance to the base. Figures R3 was looking to impress the new guy.

“Classified,” Theon answered smoothly. Just because Robb and R3 were apparently best friends, it didn’t mean that the guy got to know everything that Theon did. Especially concerning pointless missions to Hoth.

Robb contemplated that answer for a moment. “How long will you be gone?”

Theon wrinkled his nose. “Why? Going to miss me?”

It was meant as a joke. Theon barely knew the guy, but his stomach drop as the redhead blushed. “I mean, I suppose by extension I would.” Theon stared at him; mouth slightly a gap, not quite grasping what the younger man meant. Robb coughed, “R3-S9?”

_Right, of course._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...in case you didn't notice R3-S9's name is based off red wedding ep. (Fun-fact, I use 39 or 3.9 or some variation of that in many of my fics.)
> 
> On that note, thanks for reading. Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://youbuggingme.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I totally didn't forget about this or any of my other fics...noo..
> 
> So, forgive me for the lack of plot...I wrote these chapters forever ago before I had a sure idea of where this was going and don't have the heart to necessarily get rid of them. It's a bit of a slow burn :)

It turned out that the mission to Hoth took two weeks, rather than one like Brienne had promised.

Upon landing at the research base, a blizzard hit and left them under lock down, frost sealing the doors shut and snow threatening to cave them in if they risked opening anything. Theon didn’t mind that as much as he minded the fact that his only company was his pathetic droid who would not shut up about the friend back on the Star Base. Theon even tried talking to some of the researchers, but none of them bothered to give him the time of day. It was understandable in a sense. The Greyjoys played a very big part at the Battle of Hoth, nearly decimated the planet. _Thanks, dad!_ At least he made enough officially sanctioned trips to Hoth for the inhabitants to be used to his presence.

Once he got his clear to fly, Theon was out and away on his “classified” search mission. Of course, he had a navigator on stand-by, the quiet static in his ear being an ever constant reminder. Usually, the mist the ice gave off was too dense for flight but Theon had flown this path many times and the navigator was really only there for back up. Besides, R3 knew better than to fuck around during a mission flight. If the X-wing got damaged in any way, R3 was just as much at risk as Theon, maybe even more from his exterior droid pit.

Predictably, the mission to Hoth came up with nothing- not a misplaced soul across the frozen wasteland. No golden hair or cocky grin. Nothing. The research teams were fine and Jaime Lannister was still missing in action, probably dead and buried under fifty feet of snow and ice. General Tarth wasn’t going to like it, but Theon couldn’t wait for her to get it in her head that Jaime Lannister was probably a frozen solid lifeless statue. It wasn’t that Theon wanted the guy dead; he just knew that it was pointless to keep searching and wasting all this time, energy, and resources. It wasn’t healthy anymore. They needed their General strong, not searching in the snow looking for a lost cause.

Upon landing back on the Star Base, Theon was instantly whisked away to Central Navigation. He barely had time to tell R3 to handle the X-wing’s landing check-ups. He just hoped that damn droid did it. It was a long flight from Hoth to the Star Base and some post-mission maintenance was in order. R3 could see his beloved Robb later.

General Tarth wasn’t pleased with Theon’s lack of anything that could lead her to Jaime Lannister. At least she had known it was coming. Theon kept quiet as she went over his hastily written report. Honestly, it was the best she was going to get out of him. He became a pilot to fly, not to write reports. He answered her questions as simplistically as he could until he was finally set for release. It couldn’t come soon enough. Even the other communication officers fell silent; Margaery barely even gave him a nod in passing. The tone was dismal, more so than usual. Theon wondered what could be different but he was more relieved to leave Central Navigation than find out why.  

Theon quickly returned to the air hanger. He needed to make sure that damn droid actually did what it was instructed to do rather than run off to the Jedi. Theon had listened to the droid beep and whistle about Robb whole time. Two weeks and Theon knew that if his droid could, it’d drop Theon in an instant to serve Robb. Hell, Theon was under the impression that R3 was already doing so in whatever spare time it had.

To his surprise, the droid was there and working. To his dismay, sitting on the wing beside the droid was the young Jedi, legs crossed and eyes following the droid's movements. Theon tightened his fist until his nails bit into his skin.

He had a bit of a complex where his X-wing was concerned. It was his baby. She had been assigned to him as a heap of rubble with a stupid name with the idea that she’d never fly. No one was really fine with the idea of a Greyjoy behind the wheel and did everything in his power to keep him land-locked. That didn’t stop Theon. He spent weeks and months restoring her to her former glory so she could wear that name with pride. He scavenged for parts, cut deals with other pilots, dragged himself the hot coals of Mustafar just so he could get her in the skies. Now she flew with the best of them. But that didn’t mean Theon liked just anyone touching her. Not after all the blood, sweat, and tears, he put into rebuilding her. He was protective and people with clumsy dispositions, like Robb, tend to be the people that fucked things up for him. But the Jedi was new here. He probably didn’t know that someone wasn’t supposed to just go and touch another man’s X-wing. But R3 knew and R3 should have _done_ something.

“Hi,” Robb nodded coolly as Theon approached. He gave a peppy little wave that grated on Theon’s nerves. _Why did he smile so damn much?_

Theon ignored him in favor of climbing up the wing. They had a bit of an awkward maneuver for Theon to get past Robb, but once he was secured on the other side his hands were in the third engine. He wanted to make sure their repairs from before the mission had stuck. As he worked, he could feel Robb’s eyes on him.

“Can I help you?” Theon hissed lowly. He turned to see Robb had since moved closer and was now watching Theon work. He was still touching the X-wing and Theon still felt anxiety curl up in his chest from it.

“I’m curious,” Robb shrugged. “Is this okay?”

Theon was about to tell the guy to fuck off and get off his X-wing, but R3-S9 beat him to the punch with a string of beeps that roughly translated to: _He gets all hot and bothered when people touch his metaphorical dick._ Now, Theon normally didn’t mind the crass and downright rude comments the droid made because no one usually could understand them. Sure, his fellow pilots and a few people that he interacted from navigation knew, but Robb shouldn’t. Except for the fact, the Jedi’s face grew bright red.

“I’m sorry!” he exclaimed quickly as he made his way down the X-wing, jumping the last bit and stumbling to the ground in his haste. Theon stared.

“Wait, you understand it?” Theon asked, watching the redhead attempt to flee.

Robb stopped in his steps and turned to look at Theon. “I just thought if he was going to be spending a lot of time with me, I should learn some Binary. Turns out it wasn’t all that hard.”

Theon watched as the Jedi left the air hanger, red creeping up the back of his neck. Theon turned back to the droid. “Didn’t think to mention that over our two-week mission, huh?”

The low whistle told Theon all he basically needed to know.

Theon sighed lowly. “My metaphorical dick?” He cocked an eyebrow at the droid. “Care to explain _that_?”

* * *

The next day, Theon realized why the atmosphere had been darker than usual. War was coming.

The next couple of days passed by quickly. Theon and R3 spent most of their time together, running flight patterns and keeping the _Sea Bitch_ from falling apart. It was a little frustrating, being in the droid’s company all the time but they were getting on far better than they used to. R3 even returned to his bunk occasionally. This only happened when there was movement on the enemy’s side and R3 may be a little shit most of the time, but even it knew not to futz around during these times. Theon wasn’t going to admit that the presence of the Jedi also affected R3’s mood.

General Tarth seemed to be over her latest Jaime Lannister kick, ordering drills and scheduling meetings with communication officers and her strategists. He heard bits and pieces from Margaery during their downtimes which were becoming fewer and farther between.

“We got an encrypted message the other day,” Margaery whispered lowly over the dining table across from Theon. “We just got Stannis Baratheon to back us, he’s sending in a few advisers in secret. There’ll probably be an escort mission coming down to the flight decks soon.”

“I’m sure Renly and Brienne are ecstatic about Stannis.” Everyone in the galaxy knew that Stannis Baratheon had an angry raging lightsaber shoved up his ass.

“He’s sending us information, communication links, troops, the whole nine-yards.” Margaery yawned, rubbing her face as she stood up. “I’m going to pass out for an hour and then go back and make sure Renly and Brienne aren’t killing themselves over this.”

Theon gave Margaery a half-salute and looked over to his side where R3 was resting, all non-essential lights and functions turned off. They had about six hours until their next drill and R3 was due for a maintenance check which meant Theon had three hours tops to rest.

Theon went back to eating, put down his meal as quickly as possible in order to maximize his own time. He was nearly finished up when a body sat across from him. Looking up, Theon was only half surprised to see the young Jedi across from him.

“Haven’t seen you two around,” Robb greeted as he began toying with his food. It wasn’t aesthetically appealing by any means but it hit all the nutrient factors and didn’t taste half bad. You get used to it.

“We’ve been busy,” Theon mumbled, looking down to see the droid hadn’t even moved to greet his newest friend.

“Everything okay?” Robb asked, his eyes scanning over Theon in worry.

Theon raised an eyebrow as he finished off his last bit. “As fine as it can be.” Standing up, Theon nudged the droid with his knee. “Come on, lazy, we got to get you all cleared out.” Theon turned to give Robb a half-hearted goodbye but found the red head was already standing and ready to follow along. “Coming with?”

“If you don’t mind,” Robb said hesitantly, scratching his collar bone. “Not much to do around here.”

Theon almost wanted to laugh at that luxury. Day in and day out Theon was run to the bone yet this little Jedi had the luxury of sitting around. “I’d be happy to share the burdens.”

This got a smile out of the Jedi. “Well, if there is anything I can do, let me know.”

As they exited the cafeteria, Theon stopped completely and toyed with the idea. What’s the worst that could happen? “Want to take R3 for its quarterly maintenance while I catch up on sleep?” R3 could lead Robb around and Robb could make sure R3 actually got checked and Theon could get sleep. It was a win-win-win situation.

The droid beeped excitedly at Theon’s suggested and Robb smiled a bit at that. “You sure?”

“It’s a chore I couldn’t care less about. If you want to do it, fine. R3,” Theon turned to the droid, “don’t fuck around and come get me when you both finish up.”

The droid didn’t even acknowledge Theon, finding its newfound strength and whizzing past Theon to Robb.

“We’ll come find you when we finish up,” Robb answered Theon with a nod before walking off, the droid beeping and chirping as Robb responded back.

Theon rolled his eyes and numbly made his way to his bunk, nearly dumping himself into bed without bothering the strip off his excess layers. The minute his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.

* * *

As Theon slowly drifted back into consciousness, he realized he was not alone in his bunk. Sitting up rapidly, Theon’s eyes landed on the figure sitting at the tiny desk shoved into the corner of his bunk.

Robb looked up at Theon’s sudden movement, the book that was resting in his hands falling shut. “Hi.”

Theon blinked and looked over to see R3 beside Robb hibernating on half-function. “What time is it?”

Robb’s eyes widened. “Oh, don’t worry. R3-S9 set up a timer, you still have-” Robb looked on the display screen on R3 “-twenty-six more minutes if you’d like to keep sleeping.”

“Have you been here the whole time?” Theon narrowed his eyes, wondering if the Jedi realized how fucking creepy that was.

“Only for a bit,” Robb flushed. “We came back about fifteen minutes ago and I figured I’d wait for you to see if you needed anything else.” Did he realize he looked like a puppy when he said that? All eager and willing to aid Theon? The Jedi decks must be truly lonely if he was willing to do grunt work for Theon.

Theon licked his lips hesitantly. “Really?” Not many people were willing to stick around and help him out, not when they had better and more important things to do.

Robb nodded, “I mean, I could find my siblings but they are all off doing their own thing.”

“Right-” Theon swung his legs over the side of the bed “-well, I got to shower and then head down to the flight deck for drills so not much you can do-” Theon watched Robb’s face fall and suddenly added, “but you can come along for that if you want. They can be pretty fun to watch if you haven’t seen them before.”

“Really?” Robb perked up, R3 slowly coming back on at the sound of his voice.

“Yeah, I’ll see if my friend in communications will let you watch from up there,” Theon added and he had no idea why he was even suggesting it. “Better view, you know?”

“I’ll sit on the flight deck, no big deal-”

“Trust me, communications is nicer, plus the sound of all the X-wings and yelling can be a bit much.” Theon had no idea why he was being so insistent but the smile on the Jedi’s face was doing a funny thing to his chest. “Give me ten to clean up.”

“Right!” Robb stood up and R3 followed him. “We’ll be waiting outside.”

Theon nodded and watched the two leave his bunk. Theon wasn’t sure why he was so insistent with the Jedi or why the Jedi had taken to following them around but as Theon stripped all the way down and climbed into the shower, he found that he didn’t really mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Your comments mean the world. Also, don't be afraid to poke and prod me into writing because I do sometimes forget I have fics open in favor for newer ideas which is unfortunate. I'm trying to do better! Anyway! Enjoy
> 
> [Tumblr](http://youbuggingme.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> Can anyone tell I was the weird kid growing up that wanted to be an x-wing pilot over a Jedi/Sith?
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think! Feel free to talk to me on [Tumblr](http://youbuggingme.tumblr.com/)


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